HT DESIGNS_ BE INSPIRED

Fun & Fresh Website

I'm loving this site for Restaurant/Caterer Marie Catrib's! Its fun and playful, and still a functional e-commerce site (another Smashing Magazine find)! I like how the nav at the top is relatively simple but has a playful touch with the arrows pointing to what you've rolled over. Another feature I like is the "hide" that allows repeat visitors to hide the the rotating messages. I like the use of handwritten typography, the mixture of different fonts is playful and fun. I think sometimes there's such a thing as using too many fonts (whether hand type or not). But I also think that if you are going to cross that line you may as well run with it and that's what this site does. Despite the assortment of fun and funky fonts, the site still looks clean and fresh. I think the clean and simple and photography helps keep it clean.

Check out Marie Catrib's! (If you live in the USA you can even order baked goods from their online store!) 

Melt

 

I'm totally a chocoholic and my favourite part about chocolate has to be how it melts in your mouth! I love that this brand identity for a line of chocolate called Melt designed by JJAAKK DESIGN plays on that. Just from the treatment of the type on the block having that little wobble at the bottom is great, it gets the message across quick and simple! I like how the melt idea is taken further on the chocolate box, how there's finger print smudges, because anybody who really enjoys chocolate has done that!

The chocolate bars are probably my favourite though, because the designer took the idea of melted chocolate in a different direction. It reminds me of cake decoration with the patterns. I like how the box is "messy" and then the wrappers of the bars are "pretty". 

"Packaging and logo design for a gourmet chocolate shop. The classic characteristics of melted chocolate are used throughout, providing a tantalizing glimpse at the wonderfulness contained within."

Source: Lovely Package / JJAAKK DESIGN

Promenade Wine Box

Designed by Norwegian design firm Designers Journey

I love this design for Promenade Wine, it has a playful story element to the package. It honestly makes me just want to go to France! I've been noticing the last few years that there are lot more products at the LCBO that target women specifically and I think this one is definitely a package that would attract the eye of a woman on the shelf. Its a different approach then say Girls Night Out which is more modern.

“We strengthened the Promenade concept with a selection of charming and positive french cliches. Keywords: A walk through France. Souvenir de Paris. Romance, elegance and charm. Most of the text, including the brand name, is handwritten to strengthen the romantic and authentic expression.”

SOURCE: LOVELY PACKAGE

Food and Drink meets Fashion

Its cold outside and it feels like we are never going to see spring! So I'm not sure if this is great packaging or if I just want it to be summer already. Designed by Corretje Comunicació Grafica in Spain, these bottles are for Les Tropeziennes flavoured waters. Again, I'm curious to what the Beach would taste like! (or maybe its just great photography?)

I looked up Les Tropezienne and was surprised to find they are actually an Italian Accessories label, they aren't actually a part of the Food and Drink industry! I can see the influence in the stylized high end bottle, but it surprised me anyways. It's definitely a different approach than Vitamin Water or Crystal Light! The design suggests they weren't trying to reach out to anyone other then their fashionista clientele, but still more everyday then the designer Evian bottles we've seen in the past.

Source: Lovely Packaging

 

Expiry Label

I'm always wary of expiry dates on foods at the grocery store. An expiry date alone doesn't really tell you how fresh something is. I like the idea of this new label created by design studio To-Genkyo.

Using the idea of a hourglass shaped label as the timer, the label changes as the food gets older and has higher levels of ammonia in it. If its been sitting on the shelf for too long, the label changing makes the barcode unreadable and therefore unsellable. I definitely hope this label gets implemented in North American markets!

Source: the Dieline

New Starbucks Logo

SOURCE

I'm not entirely sure I like the new Starbucks logo. Definitely a bold move on their part to completely remove their name from the logo and leave just the image of the mermaid.  I think after 40 years they have definitely built up brand recognition, is it enough though? When I first saw the logo, I kind of thought “who do they think they are? Nike?”  I think they are popular enough, I was driving in downtown Toronto and saw three Starbucks locations in 3 blocks and I knew for a fact there were another two around the corner. People know the Starbucks brand, they know that image of the mermaid. But the new logo doesn’t holds the same simplicity Nike’s logo does which I always felt was essential to Nike’s successful logo. I guess time will tell whether this will be a branding misfire.

Packaging for an AM/PM Health Drink

Nice sleek and beautiful design for a pair of Day/Night Health Drinks. AM is formulated to give you energy during the day, and the PM is to calm you down for the night. Designed by Axis41 for AM / PM by Avaria. The bright energetic orange and dark purple of the drinks suit the Day and Night aspects of the drinks and becomes the colour of packaging. The clean crisp typography  is a nice contrast against the frosted botanical illustrations. The clean look gives it a very high end feel.

Maison Orphée by lg2boutique

 

More packaging! This time its labels for olive oils designed by lg2boutique that I saw at the Dieline. There are two lines designed for one brand, Maison Orphée. The first is a cooking line, and the second is their gourmet line. I particularly like the print material designed for the cooking line, and the labels for the gourmet line (below) are beautiful. The black and white imagery of drizzled oil is striking especially in combination with the bright coloured bands. The b&w imagery is very simple, it comes across as abstract when you first view the packaging.

Peace Cereal

Another one from the book (The Big Book of Green Design), is Peace Cereal designed by Hatch Design. Unfortunately their website doesn't seem to show that they have switched over to this new concept. Hopefully its in progress!

The thing I like most about this packaging, is the reason behind why they resized it from the typical cereal box size. The box is smaller than most to allow for more boxes to be packed per carton and displayed on shelf. It reduces the footprint of everything from fuel for shipping and the use of excess paper materials.

California Wine Poster by mhdezign

Such a fun poster advertising California Wine Regions designed by mhdezign

The shape of California is created out of wine corks. I love the  use of different cork sizes, shapes and colours, and the typography suits the poster!